A big win for a broad coalition, a bad day for big grocery chains and Big Tech!

The Seattle City Council voted 7-2 on September 23, 2026 to approve the Fair and Transparent Pricing policy, making Seattle the first U.S. city to ban grocery retailers from using personal data to set different prices for different customers, according to Mayor Katie B. Wilson's office. The ordinance, co-sponsored by Councilmembers Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Dionne Foster and Rob Saka, is also the first surveillance pricing ban to include a private right of action, and it survived amendments from Councilmember Bob Kettle that would have allowed personal-data discounts; only Councilmember Maritza Rivera joined Kettle in voting for those amendments. Safeway has threatened to end its loyalty program in Seattle if the ordinance passes, though the measure explicitly allows loyalty programs, discounts and coupons.

A big win for a broad coalition, a bad day for big grocery chains and Big Tech Seattle City Council votes 7-2 to ban surveillance pricing for groceries -- the first city in the country with a ban "Mayor Katie B. Wilson and City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck are committed to protecting people’s privacy and making sure grocery prices are fair, transparent, and affordable. And today, with co-sponsors Councilmembers Dionne Foster and Rob Saka, the Full Council approved the Fair and Transparent Pricing policy, a first‑in‑the‑nation city-led consumer protection measure designed to stop grocery retailers from using personal data to set different prices for different customers." – Seattle Becomes First City to Stop Grocery Stores from Using AI Based Personal Data to Set Prices https://wilson.seattle.gov/2026/09/23/seattle-becomes-first-city-to-stop-grocery-stores-from-using-ai-based-personal-data-to-set-prices/?ref=thenexusofprivacy.net , Alex Hudson, seattle.gov Huzzah After close to 90 minutes of outstanding public comments from consumers, workers, faith leaders, privacy experts, social justice and human rights groups all supporting the audience and a dozen lobbyists repeating industry talking points , followed by another two hours of swatting down a stream of amendments from Councilmember Bob Kettle that would have added loopholes undermining the bill's protections and weakening enforcement, the room exploded into cheers when the council voted 7-2 to pass the bill. And if you think that was a long sentence, just try to imagine how long the hearing was. My live-skeeting thread has a lot of the details https://skywriter.blue/@wa-privacy.net/3mw54y6o5b22c?ref=thenexusofprivacy.net , along with some snark; I'll post the video once it's available. Not only is Seattle the first city to pass a ban on surveillance pricing, it's also the first surveillance pricing ban to include a private right of action. So it's a big big win for the broad coalition that's supported this ordinance ... and a big loss for the big grocery chains and Big Tech companies that profit by exploiting people's personal data. Most of Seattle's Concilmembers saw through the nonsense Not only that, despite Councilmember Kettle's best efforts, Seattle's ordinance avoided a key loophole that industry successfully inserted into Maryland's and Connecticut's bills, and spent the last six weeks pushing here with a mass-texting disinfo campaign. Using personal data to give discounts as two of Kettle's amendments proposed is just another way of implementing surveillance pricing. If they're using personal info to charge you $9 for the same item they're only charging me $7 for, they're using personal info to charge you more even if the list price $10. Fortunately, most of Seattle's Councilmembers saw through this nonsense; only Councilmember Maritza Rivera joined Kettle in voting for it. But when I was browsing Bluesky a few hours later, I saw a post https://bsky.app/profile/pnwpolicyangel.bsky.social/post/3mw5rv7v3ds2p?ref=thenexusofprivacy.net from Portland City Councilor Angelita Morillo lamenting that their City Life Committee had just passed a very similar amendment So, well done by the 7/9 of the Seattle Council who got it, and hopefully we can figure out a way to get other city councils to understand this. What's industry's next move? Of course, big grocery chains and their Big Tech partners aren't going to just give up after one bad day. To start with, has Safeway threatened to end their loyalty program in Seattle if the ordinance passes. As I said in A golden opportunity in Seattle https://thenexusofprivacy.net/a-golden-opportunity-in-seattle/ . "Oh please. The ordinance explicitly allows loyalty programs as well as discounts and coupons . And loyalty programs were around for decades before surveillance pricing even existed, so they can certainly continue to offer them if they want to. Either they're bluffing, or they're admitting that exploiting consumers with surveillance pricing is so profitable that they're willing to sacrifice the millions of dollars a year they get from monetizing the data of loyalty program members in Seattle. We'll see how effective it is politically, but it's certainly not a particularly persuasive argument." My guess is that they're not bluffing, and will actually follow through with it; it wouldn't surprise me if Kroger's who owns QFC and Fred Mayer does as well. They're both going to continue to raise prices no matter what, and they're happy to have an excuse to raise prices even more in Seattle even if it leads to a short-term hit to their sales. So the mass texting campaign, and all the talk about affordability from CM's Kettle and Rivera in their statements today, are all laying the groundwork for a multi-pronged campaign: - Try to blame all the price increases her on the ordinance and the Councilmembers who voted for it. - Try to paint higher grocery costs in Seattle as a cautionary tale as they lobby for weak legislation cities and states around the country, the 2027 legislative session here in Washington, and in Congress - Try to make it a campaign issue for the 2027 city council elections in Seattle. Like I say, we'll see how effective it is politically. Industry-friendly media outlets like the Seattle Times , for example will certainly help spread this message ... but I don't know how many people will get fooled. Time will tell. This huge win will build momentum across the country "We've all seen the headlines about the risks of AI and need for regulation.. You have a golden opportunity to do something concrete today to protect Seattle consumers, workers, and independent grocers – and be a model for other cities and states considering similar bans" – me, in my comments to the Council More positively, though, this huge win will help organizers in other cities and states across the country. Industry had killed a surveillance pricing bill in California just a couple of weeks ago, and they've stalled New York's surveillance pricing bill for months ... but guess what, they're not invincible. And as well as the strong legislation providing a a model of what's possible, the Seattle coalition's very successful tactics can hopefully be adapted by organizers elsewhere to reflect the dynamics wherever they are. It's an especially timely win both because of the broad focus on AI regulation, and because Lindsay Owens of Groundwork's book Gouged: The End of a Fair Price – and What That Means for Your Wallet https://groundworkcollaborative.org/gouged/?ref=thenexusofprivacy.net is coming out next week. Gouged already getting some great press; check out Owens' 90-minute segment with Jon Stewart on Algorithmic Price Manipulation & Targeted Gouging https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM js9f6BlI&ref=thenexusofprivacy.net . So I expect we'll be hearing a lot more about this. The wins against surveillance pricing for groceries are just a starting point. Other industries relying on these kinds of exploitative practices should be very nervous as well. And as Seattle Councilmember Eddie Lin pointed out in his excellent closing remarks, the opposition to surveillance pricing is bipartisan. So is the resistance to data centers, and the wave of organizing against Flock and other AI-enabled ALPR surveillance cameras ... and there are clearly a lot of synergies here. Exciting Congratulations and kudos to everybody involved In her closing remarks today, Councilmember Rinck frequently referred to as AMR highlighted the contributions of UFCW 3000, WA People's Privacy, MLK Labor, Transit Riders Union, staffers in the Mayor's office as well as her own organization, and a host of others ... agreed, and AMR deserves a huge amount of credit too And on top of that, dozens of consumers and grocery workers gave public comment, well over a hundred people attended the variou hearings, and literally thousands contacted the councilmembers. But l'm going to wrap this post up with the much longer list of organizations who AMR listed in her closing remarks at the previous committee vote https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QST8YRyTnY&t=1257s&ref=thenexusofprivacy.net – all of whom provided public comment on the bill, and encouraged consumers and workers to contact their council members. - Washington People's Privacy, - ACLU of Washington - The Nexus Of Privacy - Consumer Reports - Tech Equity Action - Transit Riders Union - Washington Fair Trade Coalition - Amazon Employees For Climate Justice - APRI - Seattle 350 - Seattle Queer Power Alliance - Washington Working Families Party - Food And Water Watch - Lavender Rights Project - Washington AI Resistance, - IAM 7551, People Power - Washington Solidarity Budget - Communities Not Cameras - Stop Surveillance City - Be Seattle - Seattle Indivisible - Working Washington - Faith Action Network - SRIA 775 - Queen Anne Baptist Church - Faith Action Networ - One America - Woodland Park Presbyterian Church, - The Church Council Of Greater Seattle - MLK Labor It really is a remarkably broad coalition. Congratulations and kudos to everybody involved